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Good idea! When do you plan on doing the loop?

Good idea. We will do that!

Glad you enjoyed the music! We thought they were great! Got their card so we can look them up next time and see where they are playing!

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Indeed... they had some neat jams going on. Gord

@@byronstyron3893 That’s the nicest compliment so far this year! Happy New Year to you and yours!😁

In the beginning, as we pulled the dinghy out on Lake Charlevoix, we were only going about 600 rpm. Our normal slow cruise speed is 9mph of 840 rpm. We are very interested in comparing your cruising speeds to ours. We have the Volvo D12's.

Check this one out: ruclips.net/video/E-gTwUGxx4w/видео.html

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Since i'm Ohio river based, mine's all tucked in for the winter, but from recollection, i get about 9 knots at 1000 rpm and about 19 knots at 2000 rpms. I have the D9 engines.

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop OK yes I see more wake there, but I still feel like mine puts out more, even at that speed. I can't find a trim setting either that makes it better. Are you using any/much trim when flat out like that?

@@jdwky69 Our efficient slow cruise is 840rpm with a resulting speed at 9mph. At 1000 rpm our boat would be plowing and making a larger wake. We maybe would get 10 mph but the fuel burn is not worth that extra mph.

Thanks for commenting! May God bless you!😃

You can check with Island Cove Marina in Harrison TN The marina is just north of Chattanooga. Friendly marina with a nice Mexican restaurant, Amigos. We love cruising the TN river and look forward to getting out boat back there when we are done traveling. It's an easy drive up 75, get off on Volkswagon Dr., make a left and follow to HWY 52, right and Marina is just up a little ways. Are you going to do the loop?

@ thanks for the info! Don’t believe we will be doing the entire loop but you never know. Definitely planning on Chattanooga to Mobile in the fall and then head down to the keys to visit friends & family winter 2025. Not sure what 2026 has in store for us yet. Thanks for taking the time to record and post your trips!

@@massivewoo0115 Sounds like great plans! We live in Kennesaw. The drive is not bad if you plan on staying a while on the boat. Being retired we can come and go during the best times for traffic. Sounds like us. We plan but we can change our mind anytime. That's the beauty of it!

Welcome aboard! We hope you enjoy the videos. We think we are getting a little better at editing them as we go along. I am working on fixing sound issues so hang in there!

It did stay warm up there all the way through September last year. I think we went to Boyne City next. Need to start working on that one next!

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Wow... that's great. When I mentioned cold, I was referring to early mornings. Even in Cleveland, where I grew up, late August mornings were always chilly. You were a whole lot further north than that. But if the days are warm, that's great. I just know that when it gets cold on the water... it is colder than on land. If you have to be out on deck it could be uncomfortable. Gord

@@gorrdd We love the cool mornings. Great for talking a walk in town. Everyone at home, north of Atlanta, said it was in the 90's and miserable most of the summer so we are thrilled with the nice cool weather. It is true, sometimes it is hard to get in the water if a breeze is blowing out there!

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop I'll be interested to see how your voyage proceeds and where you are and when... to get an idea of the conditions you were experiencing. I get the feeling that you march up the rivers in the spring in order to get to Lake Michigan for the summer months. Then leisurely travel from one great location to the next along Lake Michigan's eastern shores. Then spend the autumn traveling through the lakes and canals to get to the East Coast ICW. Then travel south along the ICW only taking a day here and there at the places you like to take a rest until you get to Florida... beating the winter weather. How do you time the hurricane season? It seems like there is some real potential exposure during the time you're on the east coast ICW. As long as they curve up and out into the Atlantic, it's not a problem. But some years the coast along the Outer Banks get clobbered. I guess you just play that by ear. Gord

@@gorrdd Yes, Plans are made but day by day you need to see how the weather is, boat and personal maintenance, and all the considerations you mentioned. You really need to be flexible!

Good idea. We plan on it this spring.

I missed the fox! Guess I must have been looking at the buck next to me!😁

Wish I had my camera ready when he started crossing, but it was great to get some of it! Thanks for commenting.

It is beautiful. We do miss the warm water in the summer in Tennessee. It did get warm enough to swim in August there a couple of days. We lived in Florida for 15 years. Perfect life would be Michigan in the summer and Florida in the winter.

😁🤣 No we did not make it all the way to Boyne City in a dinghy. Pretty far and a lot of boat traffic. Get's really rough out there. We did go there in the big boat though!

@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Cool... I guess Lake Charlevoix is big enough to get some good size chop. That wouldn't be very suitable for dinghy rides. Gord

@@gorrdd We have gone out through the cut from Round Lake a little ways close to the coast but it's pretty rough even right there. We usually just stick to Round Lake and the little cut around the island.

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop I guess that's the average conditions on any given day. Well... big boats rule! Right? 😉 Gord

@@gorrdd Right! 😁

Is that near Charlevoix?

@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Yes, just into Lake Charlevoix from Round Lake. Next to the Charlevoix Yacht club.

Thanks for the information and for watching our videos. We stayed at Irish Marine once when having service done on Freebird. I believe it may be near there. Charlevoix is one of our favorite places on Lake Michigan.🥇

Charlevoix is one of our favorite places on Lake Michigan. We will be back next summer. Thanks for watching. More video of Charlevoix coming soon. 🛥️

Were you there by boat?

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Yes. My homeport is in Racine, WI. We were on a 2.5 week boat trip where we made it all the way to Mackinac Island. This was my third time in Charlevoix by boat. Love that town.

@@MSG3726 We do too! Great place to have your dinghy down. We love cruising around Round Lake. That will be what our next video will be about. Can't wait to get back there this summer!

Thanks for following Freebird.🛥️

Thanks for the info. I didn't know it was not owned by the Winn Family anymore. Was this recent? Someone told us they were invited by him to see the house last summer. Interesting.

Beautiful yacht!

Thanks for letting us know! Are you familiar with this yacht?

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop there are RUclips videos about it. I do not know if that specific one.

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop There's only 2 of them. This one is the first. Formally named "Heavens Gate" Built in San Diego.

@@bendamian1338 Thanks! We looked them up. Also found out it is currently on sale at yachtworld.com

It's a beauty! We just found it is for sale on yachtworld! If you buy it, I want a tour!🤣

The large yachts are beautiful but one consideration is that every marina charges by the foot for each night's stay. We also think about the amount of work involved and keeping up with the washing and waxing of a boat that size. Ours is small enough to maintain ourselves.

@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Indeed... everyone must gauge, according to their means, what they are able and willing to take on. 40' is my limit right now. Thanks... Gord

@ That is a nice size. What model do you like?

@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Right now, the Boston Whaler 405 Conquest Express Cruiser looks the most appealing. It's got the quiet triple Merc 600's that gives it a great top end for when you need to outrun a coastal storm and make it to 'safe haven'. Plus, it's got just enough accommodation for some guests on a short trip. It can still be trailered but better to have it done professionally unless it is a relatively short distance. The pilot house has sliding glass windows that second as sliding doors on either side with joy stick controllers on both sides allowing you to dock safely in any situation. Plus, the eisen-glass is only on the back side making it very easy to deploy and store underneath the pilot house roof. The accommodations, both above and below deck are great allowing great flexibility, depending upon the weather. Gord

Sounds like a great boat with a lot of power. Whalers have a great reputation. Hope to see you on the water someday.

Thanks for watching the video to the end! We do enjoy every day we are out on the boat. There is so much to see and do in Charlevoix. More coming on great things to do in Charlevoix.

That's a great question. Maybe the American Great Loopers Cruisers Association might have the answer.

Thanks for sharing your experience on Lake Michigan. In my 20’s I crossed from Milwaukee to Muskegon in 260 Sea Ray Sundancer - the waves were so large we couldn’t see over them. 🛥

Very hard to capture the wave size on camera. When traveling with the wind and waves Freebird easily handles waves that size. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Safe boating!

We haven’t been to Lake Superior yet. May go next summer after exploring the North Channel in Canada. Thanks for watching. 🛥

Thank you so much. We love to hear other peoples experiences and we do try to learn from ours. Some people are just angry for some reason. That's ok. Glad to let them get some of that out.😃

That would be an awesome place to explore by boat!

The Great Lakes are beautiful but can be dangerous! We try to avoid cruising in bad conditions but this time the last 10 miles was exposed to large swells that were not forecasted. Thanks for watching.🛥

Typical rag boat….thinks he/she owns the water

Thanks for the tips! We always try to be respectful of other boaters. The sailboat in this video had it a lot worse than we did so we did slow down and did a wide pass off his stern. The sailboat was heading North up the coast while we were heading more West into Charlevoix.

What is: Golden shellback out.

@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop I crossed the equator at the date line. Double ot's. I stood before king Neptune and his court. And was found worthy of being a sea farer. All the land lubbers be poly wogs. Old navy traditions. From before political correctness bull shit.

This time they were just hitting us on port beam. If we were going with the waves, we would have been fine. We have had the most wonderful days travelling on Lake Michigan! We saved our whole life to have this boat. It was our dream and have enjoyed every day we are able to be cruising on it. Our happiest day was the day we bought it and our saddest will be the day we sell it. 😃

Hang on! 😁

Same here but in three to four foot chop. You were rockin and rollin.

I have been out there in way worse conditions in a 260 Sundancer crossing lake MIchigan. The swells were so large you couldn't see over the top of them! This time they were just hitting us on port beam. If we were going with the waves, we would have been fine.

@@heaven-is-real This time they were just hitting us on port beam. If we were going with the waves, we would have been fine.

I probably would not call them stupid. Maybe you could say inexperienced. Everyone has to learn somewhere. I'm sure you were not born with the knowledge you currently have. Maybe learned what you know serving in the Coast Guard? And how a few things falling, on one trip on a lake, equates to us not loving the sea is really hilarious! All that aside, we really respect The Coast Guard.🥰 Thank you for your service!

It is awesome! We love it so much we are planning another summer up there!😃

We love going down and seeing the fishing boats come in with salmon. It's amazing how huge they are!

No. Not on this boat. Do you have them? If so, how well would they work on port beam waves?

We would love to do that one day! What boat do you have?

@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop I was delivering a GB 60. I deliver yachts part time. I own a 1967 GB 36 that I'm restoring.

We do lay down the lamps and take things off of areas that will fall. This time it was way worse then we have ever been in, in this boat, so we learned a few more things that we need to stow.

I now know that along with laying down the lamps, the coffee maker and everything on the counters need to come down if it at all looks iffy. Seems like it is always worse then the wave predictions say.

Thanks for watching!

Wow! That sounds scary. Beaver Island is a really pretty port. We want to go back there again one day.

The Great Lakes are awful, the seas are always confused and stacked up. I’d rather be in 10 footers in the New York bight than 5 on the Great Lakes.

Thank you. She's pretty comfortable.

Welcome! Yes, I am definatley "wave shy" 😁 after our experience. We will be watching the weather closely each time we head out. What boat do you have an where is your home port?

@FreebirdTheGreatLoop That experience was years ago. Since then for reasons I moved from power boating to a small 22ft sailboat. My homeport is Oscoda, Mi. Although my heart is still with power boating. I respect those who do the Great Loop! Where is your homeport?

@@Setsail-e8b Ours is Chattanooga, TN We are right on the Tennessee River. We love cruising up and down the river. Lot's of places to go. Never had the chance to sail. We were on a commecial sailboat in Maine and it was beautiful when they put up the sails!

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying our videos!😁

Lake michigan is no joke. I been out there in red flags conditions. I was in a Hatteras 50C Sportfishman @ 12 knts... 10 foot waves. 30 knt winds from the NNW Saugatuck to Holland, Mi... Spray over my radar arch @ 24ft.

@@captseamus Why were you out there in those conditions? We stayed at Eldeans in Holland almost a week in the Spring this year because of the weather. We were rocking and rolling in the marina! What time of year was this?

@@FreebirdonTheGreatLoop Live and learn - fortunately for you.

@@douglasnorth2964 We do do a little more prep now. The coffee maker even fell on that one so it's on the floor now.